Passenger conveyors have proven effective for carrying people between different levels within a building or across an elongated pathway, for example. Typical arrangements include a plurality of steps or a belt upon which an individual stands to be carried from one location to another. A handrail typically rides over a balustrade and provides a surface for an individual to grab onto while riding on the conveyor. Typical handrail configurations have a generally flat surface oriented parallel to the ground or the direction of movement of the conveyor (e.g., on an angle relative to vertical along the rise of an escalator).
Handrails are driven to move in unison with the steps or moving belt. A handrail drive mechanism causes the desired movement of the handrail. Typical arrangements link a motor responsible for driving the step chain to the handrail drive system. The same motor drives the stop chain and the handrail to ensure that the two move in unison. While such arrangements have proven useful, those skilled in the art are always striving to make improvements. One example improvement is shown in the published United States Patent Application 2006/0070846.
For example, it would be useful to simplify the installation and maintenance procedures associated with passenger conveyors. The interconnection between the step chain and handrail drive systems contributes to the complexity and time-consuming nature of such processes. The handrail drive system is also believed to be a major contributor to maintenance and repair requests and it would be useful to provide an improved arrangement to minimize the times a conveyor is unavailable for passenger use.